Li Mingyan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Li Mingyan, Male, Han, from Wuyi, Zhejiang, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Zhongyao Herbal Processing Craftsmanship (Ⅸ-3). The tradition is documented in Wuyi, Zhejiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Zhongyao Herbal Processing Craftsmanship in Wuyi, Zhejiang: The Wuyi Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique is an important component of China's traditional Chinese medicine culture and a testament to the outstanding wisdom and creativity of local practitioners of Chinese medicine. With a long history and an emphasis on therapeutic efficacy, it has played a positive role in promoting the health of the public. The history of the Wuyi Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique can be traced back as far as Ye Fashan, a Daoist of the Tang dynasty, whose secret prescriptions were secretly transmitted in the Wuyi area and exerted a certain influence on the formation of the processing technique. Later, Li Jinzu, founder of the Shouxiangu Pharmacy, invented and mastered distinctive traditional techniques for collecting, semi-wild cultivating, and processing Chinese medicinal materials, together with dozens of techniques for processing and refining Chinese medicinals, initially forming the Wuyi Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in April 1960 in Wuyi County, Zhejiang Province. National representative bearer of Zhongyao Herbal Processing Craftsmanship (Wuyi Shouxian Gu TCM Processing Craftsmanship), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. A research fellow, an expert receiving the special government allowance of the State Council, and a National Model Worker. He learned TCM processing craftsmanship from his father Li Haihong. In 1990 he was selected by the State Science and Technology Commission to pursue advanced studies at the Japan International Agricultural Exchange Center. In 1997 he founded Zhejiang Shouxian Gu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. In 2003 he took over the Shouxian Gu pharmacy and renamed it Shouxian Gu Pharmaceutical. He is devoted to the selection and breeding, cultivation, processing, development, and utilization of geo-authentic medicinal materials. He led the formulation of two international standards: ISO 21315:2018 Traditional Chinese Medicine - Ganoderma lucidum and ISO 21370:2019 Traditional Chinese Medicine - Dendrobium officinale. Within the documented technical tradition of Zhongyao Herbal Processing Craftsmanship in Wuyi, Zhejiang: The Wuyi Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique is transmitted in Wuyi County, Zhejiang Province. The danxia landform area centered on Shouxiangu in Wuyi County is extremely well suited to the growth of medicinal herbs and has been a natural treasury of Chinese medicinal materials since ancient times. At present, the technique comprises more than one hundred methods of processing Chinese medicinals, including semi-wild potted cultivation, fengdou processing, steaming of fleeceflower root (shouwu), brine processing of eucommia bark (duzhong), grinding of sanyeqing, and extract refining of tiepi shihu, and it has formed production workflows for the collection, cultivation, processing, formulation, and decoction of Chinese medicinal materials. The technique involves numerous process steps, with special requirements in the selection and making of raw materials and implements and in the control of the craft; it is distinctly characterized in selecting, washing, soaking, steeping, bleaching, cutting, baking, calcining, simmering, stir-frying, steaming, and boiling. Adapting the method to the particular medicinal and emphasizing efficacy, it has developed new highlights and features in seed breeding, semi-wild cultivation, harvesting, cell-wall breaking, extraction, and fermentation. The Wuyi Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique has been passed down from generation to generation through oral instruction and personal example, and has been continuously improved and refined. Today it has taken on the character of traditional processing techniques coexisting and blending with modern technology, vividly reflecting the development of the cultivation, processing, and preparation of Chinese medicinal materials in Wuyi since the late Qing dynasty. In addition, the contemporary inheritors of the technique have established semi-wild organic bases for national medicinals and developed intensive and deep processing technologies, ensuring that the products are natural, effective, and pollution-free, thereby enriching the cultural content of the Shouxiangu Chinese medicine processing technique. Its semi-wild organic cultivation of Chinese medicinals and intensive processing technologies such as cell-wall breaking of ganoderma spore powder have played a role in promoting economic development in related fields and increasing the income of medicinal-material farmers. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival record of process steps": The technique involves numerous process steps, with special requirements in the selection and making of raw materials and implements and in the control of the craft; it is distinctly characterized in selecting, washing, soaking, steeping, bleaching, cutting, baking, calcining, simmering, stir-frying, steaming, and boiling.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He has presided over more than sixty national, provincial, and ministerial research projects and received nine second prizes of the National Science and Technology Progress Award and nine provincial and ministerial science and technology awards. He was recognized as a leading scientific and technological talent in the second batch of the national Ten Thousand Talents Program.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Li Mingyan · National Representative Bearer Archive